2 yıl önce

Artweeks@Akaretler celebrates its sixth iteration in Istanbul

The art series is gracing Istanbul’s rowhouses in Besiktas again with the participation of many local galleries, and the offerings on view are fantastic.

Melis Alemdar

TRTWorld

Sinan Logie, Fluid Structures (Phase 22), 2022. Oil on canvas. 130x100cm.

“This is the sixth edition. We are planning to host two editions in 2022,” organiser Sabiha Kurtulmus delivers the good news. The weather is beautiful in Istanbul on a balmy spring day, and the rowhouses in Akaretler in the Besiktas district, across the street and up the hill from the ferry stop are bustling with activity.

Artweeks@Akaretler will be open to the public, free of charge, from 11 am to 8 pm until April 10, 2022. The multi-story rowhouses occupied by art galleries are numbers 11, 12, 15, 17, 19, 37-39, and B2/2-3-4.

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Nancy Atakan, I’m Not Working, 2022. Antique broken clock, aluminium, cloth, magnifying glass, wooden table designed by Can Kucuk. 82x55x60cm.

“This edition boasts 15 galleries, three collection exhibitions, two art publications, one solo exhibition, and an initiative. Plus there is an NFT exhibition.” Kurtulmus adds.

“NFTs are, as you know, the most curiosity-inducing artworks of recent years. [Turkey’s first curated NFT platform] Carny.io is presenting with us, after holding an exhibition at the Haskoy Wool Thread Factory earlier this year. The NFTs they’re presenting are also on sale [on their website].

Other

Halil Altindere’s Dancing Coin Man NFT is a pile of coins breakdancing in the streets of Istanbul in front of landmark buildings. It is on sale at Carny for 2.5 Ethereum.

Begum Guney, Bilgili Holding Art Projects Director notes that "We are occupying ten venues this year. The new additions this year are ArtON, Versus Gallery, Oktem Aykut, Bilsart plus Difo Art. We also have a project collaboration with the new NFT platform Carny at building B2.”

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Esra Gulmen’s mischievous and witty artwork will be on display at Pilevneli between April 19-May 28, 2022.

“I must emphasise that we don’t call this a fair,” Guney says. “Fairs are activities with an admission fee. Whereas we do not charge admission fees to the public for this activity, making it accessible and democratic to all. That is why we might be deemed an ‘alternative fair’ and the participating galleries are very supportive of this.”

Guney goes on to say: “Our mission is to exhibit what is contemporary in the art scene in Turkey and to support it. We are also working on a photography project which we will announce soon.”

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Artist and vice president of the executive board of Bilgili Holding Serife Bilgili Ercanturk is holding her fourth solo exhibition as part of Artweeks@Akaretler.

‘For the children’

Artist Serife Bilgili Ercanturk is holding her fourth solo exhibition this time around. “I am exhibiting my work in a solo show called Bagmana, which means different things to different people. It is about connection, and finding meaning in the connection, but is open to interpretation,” she tells TRT World.

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Alp Sime, B&W photo of a woman and child.

“All proceeds from the sales will go towards the benefit of disabled children. I took up painting after an illness. I felt like it was my duty to make a difference, to do good,” she explains.

“I work primarily with industrial materials, and produce abstract paintings and sculptures,” she adds. “I’m not signed up with any galleries. My ultimate goal is international exposure, so I can provide even more benefits to disabled children.”

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Ardan Ozmenoglu, I Miss You, 2022. Glass, wood.

‘No longer willing to travel’

Oktem Aykut co-owner Tankut Aykut is participating in the art show for the first time, in building number 15. “It’s true that this is not a fair. But with all the gallery activity, it becomes a de facto art fair,” he smiles. “They want their buildings to attract foot traffic and to enliven the art scene, the galleries are happy to partake with what are quite modest fees.”

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Ali Kazma’s photographs of a printing press.

“Looking at it from a professional standpoint, this size fairs are getting more popular all around the world,” Aykut continues. “The big fairs of yesteryear in big expo centres are becoming very archaic, evoking an excessive consumer culture.”

Aykut believes all the large spaces and mathematical layouts are unattractive to art lovers, making people reluctant to visit or inquire about the price of an artwork: “This [smaller] setting is more attractive to everyone. People who experience the artwork in this setup find it more accessible, they can inquire about the price, they can imagine it at their home. When they see it at a convention centre they find it distant and unapproachable.”

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Ahu Akgun, Self-portrait as a chimney, 2021. Oil on canvas.

Aykut says the smaller size and intimacy of this event is an advantage, as is its central location. “Sure there is still Art Basel, the number one in the world. As long as it keeps attracting galleries and art lovers it will remain number one. But beyond that, smaller fairs are popping up, such as Art Antwerp, Art Geneve…”

Aykut considers the smaller sized organisations, such as Artweeks@Akaretler, the way of the future: “People find the art more accessible and they no longer want to travel, finding it a big fuss.

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Artist, photographer and academic Ozlem Simsek’s Cindy Shermanesque portraits.

“For example, someone in Bruges doesn’t travel to Brussels. Someone in Bordeaux doesn’t go to Paris. Someone in Geneva doesn’t go to Basel or Zurich. They want the fairs to come to them. They want to leave their home and walk to the venue, take a tram to the venue. They don’t want to fly there.”

TRT World recommends wearing comfortable shoes and setting aside at least two-three hours to take in everything. While the NFT exhibition building has an elevator, most of the rowhouses are walk-up buildings (stairs only).